The drumbeat continues:

If Sen. Barack Obama needs a mere 170 more delegate votes to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination outright, he just got one vote closer.

That’s because Laurie Weahkee, New Mexico’s newest — and most coveted — superdelegate, just threw her support behind Obama.

“After the primary elections in Indiana and North Carolina, it is now absolutely clear that Barack Obama will be our nominee,” Weahkee, lead organizer for the Native American Voters Alliance, writes in a statement e-mailed to the Independent. She adds, “Obama has proven that he can campaign in a difficult environment and still inspire thousands of new voices to take part in the democratic process.”

Weahkee also had good things to say about Hillary Clinton — “I’d like to recognize Senator Clinton for her many years of service to this country, and for laying the groundwork for women across this country to run for office” — but in the end that wasn’t enough to push the long-time New Mexico activist into her corner.

Add this to the flip of Rep. Donald Payne from Clinton to Obama, South Carolina’s Democratic vice-chair Wilber Lee Jeffcoat, California DNC members Ed Espinoza and Vernon Watkins, Oregon representative Pete DeFazio, and American Federation of Government Employees president John Gage of Maryland (and his union), and that’s a net gain of eight superdelegates. Rep. Chris Carney (D-PA) endorsed Clinton today, so the overall net gain of superdelegates today is seven. To put this in perspective, a huge win for Clinton (60% or above) in West Virginia would probably give her a 19-9 delegate split. That’s almost wiped out by today’s endorsements alone.

Meanwhile, John Edwards let it slip that he voted for Obama in the North Carolina primary, and Rahm Emanuel said that Obama is the presumptive nominee.

Update [2008-5-9 15:59:34 by BooMan]: The net gain is back to eight with the endorsement of Rep. Mazie Hirono (D-HI).